Elsa Dutton From 1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story Is Stunning In Real Life

Elsa Dutton rode onto our screens in "1883" like a dust storm at dawn — a breezy dream girl blonde bombshell with a wild heart and a fast horse. Played by Isabel May, Elsa was 17 and stubborn, raised to be proper, but itching for a life under open skies. She could ride like hell and shoot straight — much to her mama's dismay. It wasn't just the bonnet and boots that got us; it was the poetry in her voice and the fire in her chest. Though Isabel May doesn't appear on screen in "1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story," her narration certainly gives the show its soul. Her voice shapes the world around the Duttons, steady like a campfire story. 

Away from the saddle, May's offscreen presence is no less captivating. A Santa Monica-born beauty with the face of old Hollywood and the spirit of the West, she's a stunner. While it's true that many of Yellowstone's biggest stars are stunning without makeup in general, there's something particularly ghostly and golden about May. That same intensity is carried into her personality. In an interview with GoldDerby, May praised her character with an alluring honesty. "She refused to apologize for what she felt was right," May said, even when her character "did feel shame and she did feel guilt."

Isabel May might be best known to fans of "1883" and "1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story" as the voice that haunts the plains, but she's been making her mark across the screen for years now. Before she saddled up as Elsa Dutton, she starred in the teen sitcom "Alexa & Katie," showed up in "Young Sheldon" (along with Mary Cooper, who is also stunning in real life), and held her own in darker fare like "Run Hide Fight." She's popped up in indie thrillers like "Let's Scare Julie" and even shared the screen with Charlie Day of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" in "I Want You Back." Love stories or shootouts, May's proven she can ride with the best of them.

Still, for all that screen time, she stays quiet off-camera. May doesn't post or tweet — not even the occasional selfie. "I'm not so much of a social media person," she told KTLA 5 Morning News, "I'm frightened of it" — which marries so well with the old-world charm she brings to her onscreen character. After all, there are no hashtags on the homestead. In another interview, she went further: she doesn't go to parties, doesn't watch TV, and avoids modern movies altogether. "An 89-year-old in a 21-year-old's body is very accurate," she joked with a shrug. It's no wonder May fit so naturally into the world of "Yellowstone" — it makes us wonder if she did come from a covered wagon, shaped by the same sun as Elsa Dutton herself.